THE HIGHLIGHT OF 2020/2021 WAS THE LAUNCH OF ST-RÉMY SIGNATURE IN CANADA, THE BRAND’S FIRST MARKET.
For more than 130 years, St-Rémy has been rooted in the French tradition of brandy making. The world leader in French brandy, it is made exclusively from French wine eaux-de-vie reflecting the diversity of French vineyards, blended and aged in France, and bottled in the Loire valley.
St-Rémy showed strong resilience in the 2020/2021 financial year. Some traditional markets even achieved record sales, such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The brand also recorded growth in target markets, such as the UnitedKingdom, China and Taiwan. Travel Retail, which was the second largest market for St-Rémy, and where the brand is number one in brandies (source IWSR 2019), understandably experienced a sharp decline.
Despite the challenging environment, St-Rémy continued to prioritise value over volume. The brand kept its focus on the St-Rémy XO, and the launch of Sherry Cask – the fifth opus in the Cask Finish Collection – confirmed the success of this limited edition collection.
The highlight of 2020/2021 was the launch of St-Rémy Signature in Canada, the brand’s first market. This product aims to recruit consumers who are not familiar with the brandy category, and who are in a younger age group. Produced through a double maturation process combining new and traditional casks, this new brandy is backed by a strong communication campaign around mixology. The first months of the Canadian launch have been extremely promising. St-Rémy also launched its new campaign – “100% French” – in the Russian market, and continued to expand on social networks (Facebook and Instagram).
This year once again, St-Rémy actively participated in the Group’s CSR strategy, and more specifically in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. The VSOP product has discontinued all case packaging and, from the start of the next financial year, 100% of its PET packaging will be replaced with recycled PET. In the terroirs, Master Blender Cécile Roudaut initiated a major audit of farming practices among her eaux-de-vie suppliers.
In 2021/2022, St-Rémy will continue its value creation strategy. St-Rémy Signature will be launched in the United States and Australia, and a sixth edition of the Cask Finish Collection will be launched in July – it will be a Sauternes Cask Finish.
